Aldous Huxley and John Houseman worked on this 1944 adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte novel, exercising entirely too much good taste: you’d never recognize it for the rousing genre work it is, the grandmother of every gothic romance. Only Orson Welles, the uncredited producer, with his wild theatrical posturing, seems to be enjoying himself; the balance of the cast includes Joan Fontaine, Margaret O’Brien, Henry Daniell, and Agnes Moorehead. The director is Robert Stevenson, who later settled into utter anonymity at Walt Disney Studios (The Love Bug). 96 min.
